Embodiments described herein relate generally to an apparatus for preparing a fluid and a method of preparing a fluid. More specifically, the embodiments relate to a sample preparation apparatus and method which relatively quickly prepares a whole blood sample for medical tests, such as a white blood cell differential, immuno-phenotyping and the like, performed by an automated analytical instrument.
Automated analytical instruments are available to perform a number of tasks. For instance, the automated instrument may perform a number of tests on a fluid, a biological sample and the like. In some embodiments, the fluid on which the tests are performed is a whole blood sample. The tests performed on the whole blood sample can be used to determine health status of an individual from whom the whole blood sample came.
To perform the tests on the whole blood sample, a portion of the whole blood sample may be mixed with another fluid, such as a reagent and the like. The whole blood sample, or the whole blood sample mixed with the another fluid, is sent to a detector. The detector measures or detects presence of an item of interest in the whole blood sample. The item of interest may be a cell, a particle and the like. The detector "reads" the sample and reports data to a computer. The computer processes the data and reports a result, which indicates presence of the item of interest in the whole blood sample, to an operator of the instrument.
To prepare the whole blood sample to be sent to the detector, a fluid preparation apparatus and method of sorts may be used. A portion of the whole blood may be mixed with another fluid to remove parts of the blood, such as red cells. To remove the red cells, while preserving white cell morphology, the another fluid and the whole blood may have to stay together or be incubated for a time period of about 3 to 10 minutes at a temperature of about 40 degrees Celsius or greater. The demand on blood tests may be relatively high. It may not be desirable to wait about 5 to 10 minutes to begin a blood test. Also, it may be difficult to keep the blood sample and the another fluid at the desired temperature for the desired time.